A journey he’ll never forget

Susan Elzey
Special to the Register & Bee
Published: December 17, 2008

Justin Gwynn is home from living in Ghana for two years and while he is glad to be back with friends and family, he said he will never forget his time in the third-world country.

Gwynn, 21, went to the West Africa nation on a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. During that time, he gave up TV, radio and dating to don a white shirt and tie and walk most everywhere he went.

Gwynn could only write home once a week and only call on Christmas and Mother’s Day.

The apartments in which Gwynn lived were really nice, he said, but there were many other amenities he had to do without.

“Every place had electricity, but they cut it off at times to save on power,” Gwynn said. “It was for a day or two, and it was random, so you had to be prepared and keep your clothes ironed and have food that wouldn’t spoil.”

Sometimes the water was even turned off to conserve the supply.

Adjusting

to the climate

Ghana was very hot, Gwynn said.

“When I first stepped off the plane in Ghana, it was hot,” he recalled. “I thought it was because of the engines of the plane, so I walked away and it was still . . . very hot.”

The only time the temperatures were cooler was during the harmattan season when dust blew over from the Sahara Desert.

“It is cooler then, especially at night, but it is never cold there,” Gwynn said. “It is at least 100 degrees every day.”

Then there is the rainy season from about November to March when it rains every day and big puddles are everywhere, which brings mosquitoes and the threat of malaria.

Gwynn said he had malaria at least 11 times when he was in Ghana.

“You take a pill for 90 days before you go and then every day over there and for three weeks after you get home,” Gwynn said. “But it is a pill to contain it, not to prevent it.

“Most people live with malaria for so long that it’s normal for them.”

There is medicine to take when you actually have malaria and then local drugs from herbalists if you cannot afford the medicine, he said.

“I’ve tried it,” Gwynn said. “It is very nasty, but effective.”

Ghana delicacies

One of the most difficult hardships Gwynn endured were the cold showers he had to take every day in the absence of hot water.

“I never got used to something like that; you never get used to something like that,” he said. “Sometimes you boiled the water to heat, especially if you were sick and didn’t want that cold water on your body.”

Gwynn, however, said the food was good and he learned to eat and cook several dishes.

“I woke up every day at 6 a.m. and ate breakfast,” Gwynn said. “I had either an egg sandwich or rice and a stew that is a dish of brown rice with black-eyed peas and a cornmeal called ‘gari’ and a hot paste called ‘sheto.’ You eat that with fish or cow or goat meat you buy. It’s very good.”

Gwynn said he never got homesick in Ghana but remembers when he first arrived there that he felt lost.

“I thought, ‘Where am I?’” Gwynn said. “But I never considered coming home.”

He was never alone because LDS missionaries are assigned companions.

After scripture study alone and then with his companion each morning, they spent their days walking to appointments to teach people the gospel of Jesus Christ in their homes or talk to people in the streets.

Coming home grateful

Gwynn said he learned a lot about life on his mission.

“The reason I went is because I saw what was going on in life here, and I felt there was more to life that what the world puts it out to be,” he said. “I saw how my church has changed lots of lives, and I wanted to see what the spiritual part of life should be.

“I wanted to share what I had learned to be true with people who really need that part of life, which is different than the world teaches a person should have.”

He also came home grateful for many of the privileges and rights Americans enjoy and often take for granted.

“I’m thankful for simple things like warm showers and my rights,” Gwynn said. “Ghana is pretty much free, but it only goes so far. Most don’t know about their rights in Ghana. They have to pay to go to school and have to get permission to build a home or to have certain jobs.”

He said that Ghana is not all poor and the people have their share of big houses and cars, but they are extremely expensive. In many villages where Gwynn served, however, people lived in shacks.

“Most are poor, but they are happy with what they have,” he said. “They are aware of their circumstances, but they go about their day as if it is normal. They are very happy, friendly people and smile a lot.”

Insight into heritage

Gwynn said he can only speak for himself and not on behalf of all black people, but he also gained insight into his heritage and history in Ghana.

“My roots came from Africa and I thought it would be a good experience to see what life would have been if I lived in Africa,” he said. “I became more grateful for God’s purpose for all his children.

“Yes, all those years of the pain of slavery were bad, but it really benefitted my race that is living here in the U.S. now. Without those events, black Americans would not be able to reach the potential we can if we were still there, like electing the first black president.

“Everything happens for a reason, so we should stop looking at the negative and focus on the good things.”

Still adjusting to being back home, Gwynn is determined to move ahead with his life. He will attend LDS Business College in Salt Lake City in January for two years and then transfer to a four-year LDS university.

He plans on majoring in construction management and eventually owning his own construction company.

“I didn’t want to leave Ghana,” Gwynn said, “but if I didn’t leave, it would prevent someone else from coming and experiencing what I have. I needed to go to start my life in the right way, but I will never forget my two years in Ghana.”